In this podcast in the renowned MIAAW series, Owen Kelly and Sophie Hope discuss the longitudinal, qualitative study Artists’ lives: ecologies for resilience with its author, the independent researcher Susan Jones. The topics covered in this hour-long conversation ranged from the positive responses of artists — both to taking part and to its findings — to the likelihood in England of those with the ‘power and influence’ to effect policy change taking these ‘alternative’ findings on board.
The study Artists’ lives: Ecologies for resilience which reflects on the social contexts and arts experiences of fourteen artists from three English regions over a period of seven years shows how by pursuing a ‘market economy’ approach, the nation’s arts policies have successively failed artists’ need for development and undermined their chances of achieving equity and inclusion in their field.
The conversation includes some of the responses from interviewed artists — some mentioned feeling ‘validated’ by inclusion in the study and their concerns ‘heard’ by the writing up — while also articulating the emotional impact of pursuing durational study on the researcher. Official ‘policy’ responses to the report from an early presentation to the Directors’ group of CVAN (Contemporary Visual Arts Network) and Arts Council England’s Director for Individuals Yasmin Khan are briefly addressed, as is the concept of Artists’ Basic Income and whether its adoption in Ireland might be replicated in England.
But however valuable they may be, a burning issue is how to make the nuanced findings from a 33,000 word report — ‘it’s all words, with no pictures’ — be made more more accessible at a time when most people seem to have neither time nor headspace for much more than snappy social media headlines and ‘reels’? Listen out towards the end of the podcast for some great ‘alternative’ ideas from Sophie Hope and Owen Kelly!